Rotary engine.



No. 821,797. PATENTED MAY 29, 1906. E. HARRIGAN.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLIGATION FILED MAY 3, 1905.

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ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, 1905.

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E. HARRIGAN.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, 1905.

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UNITED sT s PATENT OFFIOE.

EDWARD HARRIGAN, or EVERETT, wAsHrNeTon-AssrjeNoR or ONE- oURT -To DANIE WYE or WAsmNeToN, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,-AND ONE-FOURTH To EDWIN E. vERNoN; ,OF SEATTLE,

WASHINGTON.

R'OTARY ENGINE.

Patented. May 29, 1906.

Application filed May 3, 1905- Serial No. 258,689.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD HARRIGAN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Everett, in the county of Snohomish and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in specification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in rotary engines, and the primary object thereof is the provision of an improved construction embodying a piston which is secured to a suitable carrier and moves in a continuous path in the enginecasing.

A further object is to provide an improved casing in which the piston is adapted to move,

1sOaid casing being formed With an endless ore.

Further, the invention aims to provide a simple construction, embracing but few parts, which are not liable to get out of order and is comparatively inexpensive to manufacture.

With the above and other objects in view, as set forth in the following, the invention consists of the parts, combinations of parts, and arrangement thereof, hereinafter referred to, and succinctly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views, Figure 1 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a view taken from the opposite side of the engine and illustrating particularly the means for oscillating the swinging abutment. Fig.

3 is a section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1 look-" ing in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 4 is a detail view in perspective of the abutment. Fig. 5 is a detail fragmentary view in perspective of the packing which is arranged in the casing to snugly embrace the rim of the carrier.

In carrying out my invention I provide a casing 1, which has a continuous bore of circular cross-sectional contour, said casing being formed of two sections, which are preferably circular in plan and semicircular in cross-section, and these sections are secured together by bolts which pass through the flanges 2 thereof.

rim fitting snugly between the inner contiguous edges of the casing-sections, and

, rigidly secured thereto is a piston 6. Rotary Engines, of which the following is a i the casing 1 at the point where the rim of the carrier enters the same, I provide suitable To prevent any escapement of-steam from packing 7, which bears against the opposite ,their adjacent faces with grooves, in which are arranged wires 10, the same being circular in cross-section. By this construction of- 1 packing when worn or otherwise proven defective one or more of the rings or wires can {be readily removed and replaced by new lones, and in order to compensate for the wear on those rings having direct bearing on the rim of the carrier I provide wedges 11,

through the medium of which the respective @packings can be independently adjusted toward the said rim. Plates, as 12, prevent accidental displacement of the ackings.

An abutment 13 projects t ough the bore of the casing and is mounted for oscillatory movement, the same being provided with an 5 arm 14, which has a roller 14, engaging in the groove or cam-track 14 of the frame 15,

This casing is rigidly se- 7 which is arranged at one side of the enginecasing and rigidly secured to shaft 4.

The abutment 13 is cut out to provide an opening 16, through which the piston moves when the abutment is swung to the proper position, and a slot 17 extends from this opening and is adapted to receive the adjacent portion of the rim of the carrier when the piston moves through the opening 16.

Reference-numeral 18 indicates the steamchest, and from this chest pairs of steam ports or channels 19 and 20 lead to the bore or interior of the engine-casing, so as to communicate therewith at opposite sides of abutment 13.

Mounted in the steam-chest are slidevalves 21 and 21, the same being connected by a stem 22, which is of a comparatively small diameter, so 23 can readily circulate around the same. I

The inner ports of the respective pairs serve as ingress-ports for the steam and the that the steam from pipe outer ones as egress or exhaust ports therefor, and in these ingress-ports I arrange oscillatory valves 24.- These valves are cut out, as shown, so that when slightly turned steam can (pass therethrough to the enginecasing, an the mechanism for operating these valves is so timed that steam will be permitted to enter the casing immediately after the piston-has passed the abutment. This mechanism consists of a link which is pivotally connected to the arms of the said valves, one of which arms is in the form of abell-crank lever, and arod 26, which is pivoted to the last-named arm and secured to a strap 27, which encircles an eccentric 28. This eccentric is loosely mounted on an inner eccentric 29, which is supported on shaft 4, but is free to move independently thereof. These eccentrics form a part of the governor, which is adapted to control the valves and are actuated by weighted arms 30, which swing outwardly by centrifugal action against v with respect to the tension of springs 31, it being understood that should the speed of the engine be too great that the steam-supply must be decreased and when the reverse condition ex ists the supply of steam must be increased.

The particular form of governor, however, forms no part of my invention, and that shown has been merely introduced for the purposes of illustration with respect to one form of governor which can be employed.

In operation, assuming that the valves 21 and 21 are in the position shown, it will be observed that valve 21 has closed the inletport of the pair (indicated by numeral 19) and valve 21 has likewise closed the exhaustport of the pair of ports 20. Steam will therefore pass through the ingress or unobstructed port of the pair of ports 20 and exhaust through the outer of ports 19. In reversing valves 2l and 21 are moved by lever 32 so that they occupy a reversed position orts 19 and 20, and steam will then enter t ough the inner of ports 19 and exhaust through the outer of ports 20. As the piston approaches the abutment 13 the same is swung so that its opening 16 will aline withthe bore of the engine-casing, and then said piston can readily pass therethrough, after which said abutment will be swung to its normal position and form a partition across the interior or bore of the casing, as is obvious.

The arms 30 are pivoted to a wheel 32, fixed to shaft 4, and are connected by links 33 to arms 34, fixed to a sleeve secured to eccentric 29, and one of said arms 30 is connected by link 35 to the outer eccentric, Therefore when the arms 30 are swung outward said eccentrics are swung in opposite directions, and the eccentricity of eccentric 28 is decreased.

In the foregoing I have described a construction which is fully capable of carrying out the various functions assigned thereto. It will be obvious, however, that changes in the details of construction can be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined in the a pended claims.

Having thus fu y described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a rotary engine, a casing formed of two sections secured together, a carrier rotasections, said casing being formed with ex-' ternal flanges on opposite sides of said carrier, packing arranged between said flanges and the rim of the carrier, means for forcing said packing against the rim of the carrier, and a piston secured to the rim of the carrier and being slidable in said casing.

3. In a rotary engine, a casing formed of two sections, a "carrier rotatably mounted and having its rim projecting between said sections, flanges on said sections on opposite sides of the carrier, packing arranged between said flanges and the rim of the carrier, said packing consisting of a plurality of rings having their inner faces formed with grooves, and metal circular in cross-section arranged in the grooves of said rings, means for forcing the packing against the rim of the carrier,

and a piston secured to the rim of the carrier and being arranged in said casing.

4. In a rotary engine, a casing, a steamchest having ports leading therefrom to the casing, said ports being arranged in pairs, an oscillatory abutment arranged in said casing between said pairs of ports, a piston slidable in the casing, means for swinging the abutment to allow the piston to pass the same, and valves arranged in the steam-chest for alternately opening and closing the respective ports of the said pairs.

5. In a rotary engine, a. casing, a steamchest having ports leading therefrom to the casing, said ports being arranged in pairs, an oscillatory abutment arranged in said casing between said pairs of orts, a piston slidable in the casing, means or swinging the abutment to allow the piston to pass the same, valves arranged in one port of each pair, and valves in said steam-chest for alternately closing the respective ports of said pairs, said valves closing the inner port of one pair while closing the outer port of the other pair of ports, and means for operating the firstnamed valves;

6. In a rotary engine, a casing formed of oscillatory abutm two sections secured together, a carrier rotabetween said pairs of ports, table Within the bounds of the casing and casing, meansf having its rim projecting between said secallow the piston to p tions, flanges on opposite sides of the rim of alternately closing t the carrier, packing arranged between said said pairs of po flanges and the rim of said carrier, means reof the first-name inovably secured to said flanges and projectof each pair. ing over said packing for preventing displace- Signed at Tacoma, ment thereof, and a piston secured to the rim day of April, 1905.

EDWARD HARRIGAN.

of the carrier and arranged in said casing.

7. In a rotary engine, a casing, a steam- Witnesses:

J. F. OBRIEN,

H. L. CROSBY.

chest having ports leading therefrom to the casing, said ports being arranged in pairs, an

or swinging t ass the same, va he respective ports of d valves independent 20 d valves arranged in one port ent arranged in said casing I 5 a piston in the he abutment to lves for Washington, this 24th 

